These are not necessarily direct consequences of following the LCP approach, rather a poor implementation of it
and without ensuring adequate training and supervision of frontline staff.

It wasn't the Pathway; it was the implementation of the Pathway.It is worth commenting that, if the training was inadequate, the person in charge of the training holds some grave (grave being the operative word) responsibility for that.A Macmillan
Newsletter describes an e-Learning package for End of Life Care
and the Liverpool Care Pathway -

"Nearly all health and social care staff
need training of some sort in end of life care. A new e-learning package
aims to offer just that"

In the context of End of Life training, it is surely inappropriate and, quite
simply, offensive to describe the training offered as being "easy, fun and
free". It is so described in the Macmillan Newsletter.Dr. Bee Wee, National Clinical Lead for e-ELCA, certainly
seems to be 'having fun' in this photo-shoot picture from the Newsletter."Easy, fun and free" is almost as crass as that infamous 'Mission
Impossible' slide from Carmel Wiseman at Bolton
Medical Learning Zone.Dr. Bee Wee, as President of the Association for Palliative Medicine, was
responsible for the catastrophic programme of training. See -

Finally...the final document, 'Care of dying adults in the last
days of life', was published on the 16th December –

Recognising dyingRecognising dying can be challenging for health and care professionals.
There is often uncertainty about how long a person has left to live and the
signs that suggest that someone is dying are complex and subtle.CommunicationSome health and care professionals are uncomfortable discussing how long
someone has left to live, and sometimes do not have the skills and confidence
to give difficult news or talk about the dying process. Adequate training and
continued support is important to help health and care professionals to communicate
sensitively and effectively.Shared decision-makingEffective shared decision-making can help to ensure that people get the
right care in the last days of their life. Health and care professionals can
help to achieve this if they have the right communication skills, and have a
good rapport with the dying person and those important to them.

This is really same old same old. What is offered, priority
or pathway, is still a protocol.The document asks:

They included Adrienne Betteley, an expert in end-of-life care for the cancer charity Macmillan, who said: ‘There are areas that I know that have almost tweaked the original document and called it something else – and that is very concerning.

Really Adrienne, Macmillan was among those which promoted,
supported and vociferously defended the LCP even in the face of massive evidence
of the medical holocaust that was proceeding and which was dismissed as
anecdote in parliament...

There were undeniably bad decisions; there will
undoubtedly be more in future. However, ditching the LCP is akin to accepting
the excuses of the bad workman who always blames his tools and redesigning his
tools for him. Odder still would be to accept the bad workman's excuses and
rename his tools rather than redesigning them, yet NICE are retaining many of
the core principles of the LCP.

My point is that more rules, or different
rules, are rarely the answer.

Mr. Cartwright, the problem was, quite simply, the rules.

And is that your summation of the deaths by LCP, that there were
undeniably bad decisions and there will undoubtedly be more in future...?God help us...

GP's are still marking the cards of their one percent to downsize care options.

Some GP practices, such as those with GSF accreditation, are identifying patients earlier. Many are reaching their 1% estimate of population deaths with the key ratio – the number of patients on their QOF palliative care/GSF register over the number of patients in their population – and most of these patients are being offered advance care planning.

They demonstrate what is possible to achieve and how this links up with the care of frail elderly patients and admission avoidance.

The Government published its NHS National End of Life Care
Program in 2008 and invited the NCPC to groom the British public into accepting
the idea of dying as a positive life choice. Out of this was formed the Dying
Matters Coalition and the Death Cafés. The NCPC led the Coalition from 2009.The Department of Health committed to investing 286 million pounds over the two
years to 2011 to support implementation of its National End of Life Care
Strategy and implementation of the LCP.

Doctors do actually use flow charts in diagnostic procedure. It
is the fallibility of the flow chart that, like that of the machine, it is a
linear, yes-no thought process with no what-if.In getting the machine to think like the human, humans are
beginning to think like machines.

Intuitive/iterative programming is making strides but our health
professionals are still stuck in the mud of linear flowcharts. Once your card is marked, the options
further down the line are already prejudiced.Last word -

“You don’t need a lot of intensive scientific training to encourage people to show respect and give compassionate care,” he said. [Prof Ahmedzai]But Prof Patrick Pullicino, one of the first medics to raise concerns about the Liverpool Care Pathway, said the new advice was as bad as the approach it replaces.He criticised the attempt in the guidance to identify “signs” that a person might be dying, saying once patients were “diagnosed” as facing death it inevitably meant their treatment was changed and their death more likely.

About Me

I am distraught and I despair that these events have befallen this family. The picture is of me and my lovely mum, murdered on the NHS (National-socialist Health Service). Murdered. Is that too strong a word? Her life was taken without her permission. By omission and by commission, actions taken and not taken conspired to end her life. She was kept in ignorance of what was proceeding before her very eyes, as were we. Was she, then, not murdered?